Dr. Christoph M. Kimmich was appointed Interim Chancellor of The City University of New York, effective Nov. 25, Chairwoman Anne A. Paolucci of the CUNY Board of Trustees announced following the Board’s Nov. 24 meeting.

Dr. Kimmich (pronounced Kimmick), who earned his Ph.D. from Oxford University, has served as Brooklyn College Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs since 1989, and in an acting capacity for the previous year. A prominent expert in 20th century German political history and foreign policy, he has been Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate School and University Center’s history doctoral program since 1978 and a member of the faculty since 1973. Earlier he taught at Columbia University and Earlham College and was a Tutor in History at Oxford University.

In a statement read at the Board of Trustees meeting, Chairwoman Paolucci said, ” I want to review briefly, for the record, the process followed by the Board of Trustees in this current search for an Interim Chancellor.

On at least two occasions before my term, Board Chairmen have asked the Trustees directly, to accept their nominations for a temporary Chancellor. The Trustees did so on those occasions.

Last September, when the former Chancellor resigned and an Interim Chancellor had to be found, I chose, as Chairwoman of the Board, to set up (and it was the first time it had been done) an Ad hoc Interim Chancellor Search Committee to open up the process in a more democratic way to insure greater participation on the part of the Trustees. As a result, 16 applications were reviewed, a preliminary screening made, and a first set of interviews held by the Committee. This first phase of the search, however, came to a temporary halt, perhaps because of its very openness.

New names were added to the list and the process continued. Three finalists emerged from that list and they have been interviewed a number of times. We have now reached the end of our task, which is to choose the nominee who will serve as Interim Chancellor for the next several months while we carry out the search for a permanent Chancellor.

I want to thank the Committee for its work and call on all of you, now, to join me in insuring a smooth and efficient transition in our CUNY governance.”

Chairwoman Paolucci also announced the search committee for a permanent Chancellor. The membership will include Chairwoman Paolucci (as committee chair), Vice Chair Herman Badillo (as committee vice chair), and Trustees Kenneth E. Cook, Alfred B. Curtis, James P. Murphy, Nilda Soto Ruiz, John Morning, Mizanoor Biswas (Chairperson of the University Student Senate) and Sandi E. Cooper (Chair of the University Faculty Senate); Kingsborough Community College President Leon M. Goldstein and Brooklyn College President Vernon Lattin. Additional University representation will be named in accordance with Board guidelines.

As chief academic officer at Brooklyn College, a campus with some 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 500 full-time and 300 part-time faculty members, Dr. Kimmich has been responsible for all matters relating to academic affairs including academic program planning and policy, budget, departments and programs, support services, educational technology, the library and the faculty.

Among his accomplishments have been the streamlining of academic programs throughout the college and encouraging the development of new programs including environmental studies and children’s studies. He oversaw the development of a major new curriculum to prepare early childhood and elementary school teachers and encourage and promoted a ten-year review of the Core Curriculum designed to strengthen general education. He also secured funding for departments and programs through major institutional grants, including a $1.2 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Initiative in 1990, and again in 1996.

His many publications include German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945: A Guide to Research and Research Materials, published by Scholarly Resources Inc. in 1981 and revised in 1991; Germany and the League of Nations, published by The University of Chicago Press; and The Free City: Danzig and German Foreign Policy 1919-1934. He was editor of the five-volume Handbooks on European Diplomatic History 1918-1945, published by Scholarly Resources 1981-84, and of the seven-volume second edition in 1991. He is currently studying the conception, formulation and execution of West Germany’s Ostpolitik. He is frequently invited to speak at scholarly conferences in the United States and Europe.

Among his many prestigious honors and awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, Visiting Professorship to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, International Affairs Fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Fulbright Scholarship.

A Presidential Search Committee for New York City Technical College was also announced at the Board meeting. Trustees will include Edith B. Everett (as committee chair), Kenneth E. Cook (as committee vice chair), Susan Moore Mouner, Anne A. Paolucci, and Herman Badillo. College of Staten Island President Marlene Springer will also serve on the committee as well as faculty, student and alumni representatives to be named in accordance with University guidelines.